Here’s something you don’t see everyday! But, if your hotel is blocking the view of a historical structure and the people that have lived there for generations are upset about it, you never know what may happen! Here is why this hotel was told to remove their top floors.
Court Orders That a Hotel Must Remove Top Floors
This is the Coco-Mat Athens BC in Athens and the high administrative court of Greece has ordered that they must remove their top floors. This hotel opened in 2019 and actually had their building permits voided because they didn’t get permission from the Ministry of Culture.
The problem is that this hotel and its 10 floors obstruct the area’s view of the Acropolis in the Makriyianni area of Athens. Residents have been protesting this and the court has finally ruled that the municipality must now act to have the hotel remove their top two floors. The hotel violated the height restrictions as this area is limited to just 24 meters (78 feet) and the hotel is 9 meters over that limit (at 108 feet).
In places like this, many of the homes in the area have been owned by families for generations and many other homes are bought because of the view that the area provides of the Parthenon. The hotel has a rooftop garden and heavily advertises the views that the hotel has of the Parthenon. Now, the municipality of Athens has until February to have the hotel start the removal process and the court will revisit this in February. However, the first ruling about demolishing these floors came about in 2020, just after they started operation, and the hotel fought back. Now, though, it appears that the appeals may be exhausted and that this removal will go forward.
So, if you want a unique stay, you could stay at the Coco-Mat hotel in Athens at the top floor since, very soon, this will never again exist! 🙂
It seems that people are so wary to avoid using a gender-specific personal pronoun that “their” is used all the time, as in the first sentence here: “A court has ordered that a hotel must remove their top two floors.”
However, since a hotel doesn’t have a gender, why not simply say: “A court has ordered that a hotel must remove its top two floors”?
Thanks, jsm. It was the product of a couple of changes in titling and I didn’t correct it in the end. I fixed it now.
Sounds like abusive government red tape because they got a building permit. Either that or it’s crazy and a building permit means nothing in Greece because other agencies can veto it later.
In our town, there is a stupid height limitation that effectively limits a house to 2 floors. A 3rd floor might be nice (or an attic where you can stand and walk around)
I know Greece very well –“IF” They remove the floor in my lifetime it will be a first–IN Greece, VIOLATION OF EVERY KIND AND NEVER IS ANYONE PUNISHED.
People build on public land all the time and by the time the government gets around to enforce the law a compromise happens – no respect for rules/laws
Props to the Greeks for forcing this intentional violation of the statutes to be corrected.